Peanut Butter Pie
by HisSilentFox
Summary: The simplicity of love and words that will melt your heart. HC! Please reveiw. You will either love it or hate it, tell me which


Calleigh walked down the hall towards her ballistics lab, her sanctuary. It had been a long day. Nothing criminal happened, if you count being caught in the crossfire of stupid practical jokes was something of innocence. All day long there were screams and laughter filling the halls. Speed had left a dead rat in Valeria's lab coat; she had screamed and vowed to kill the person responsible. Smugly, Speed laughed and told her that was a threat and he would detain her if she did not calm down. She had stormed off as Speed doubled over, holding his sides.

Eric decided to top Speed by going after Horatio. Eric left saying he was going to get a bit to eat, and while out he bought seventy-five roles of plastic wrap. Instead of eating he came back and wrapped Horatio's hummer front to end. It truly was a gloriously hilarious sight to see Horatio running out for a supposed case and find is hummer wrapped up like leftovers. Horatio, being a person of good humor, decided that is was time for him to join in.

So as to not shown up, he rigged the doors to all the trace labs—any person that walked through those doors were shocked, dowsed, or feathered. It was amusing to see all that fell for the gag, especially the drenched ones. Being warned by its creator, Calleigh left the doors and all their surprises well enough alone. The jokes came to a stop when someone put exploding candies in Alexx's examining room. She almost had a heart attack and called all the jokes off. The jokes were of good humor. Everyone was coming off a stressor and needed something to take their minds off the horror that their job sometimes brought.

Calleigh, being of good fortune, had been spared the jokes and was left to watch her teammates horse around. Now that she was alone and every single soul had left. She went down to so some winding down of her own. She walked to the back of her lab to the firing range and went to the side wall to pick out her form of stress relief. Pulling a Magnum off the wall she donned her protective wear. She loaded up a target and sent it down the line. Getting into position, she closed her eyes and breathed in deep. Letting that out slowly, she opened her eyes and focused, squeezing the trigger. The bullet hit its mark, right between the eyes. Next shot the heart, then to the gut. She just let the bullets spill.

Spent, she laid her gun down and pulled her target to her to inspect her venting. Not bad, relaxed a little, but not enough. She loaded another clip and target. Repeating her beginning again she let rip a second time, slower though. Again spent, she inspected her rage but decided that cleaning her weapon would conclude her unwinding. In this task she spilled her sorrow and joy—the sorrow another innocent life was gone, and the joy that those responsible was now behind bars. She was so engrossed in her activities that it took her a few minuets to realize that she was not alone and only a heart beat to recognize the familiar presents. _Ever guarding, Horatio? My sweet protector._

She laid down her gun and turned to see him leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest. She was an amazing site to her. Tall, lean, and ever the picture of calm strength. He was still in his suit from earlier, indicating that he had yet to go home.

"I'm sorry, you probably want to go home. I thought that everyone was gone."

"You're fine, Calleigh. Please, don't mind me."

"Did you need something? I could have sworn that I laid that report on your desk, but I can go look for it if I have lost it." She started to try to walk out when Horatio put an arm out to block the door.

"No, no, I got the report. You're fine, Calleigh. Forgive me, I making you nervous." He let his arm fall limply to his side. He blushed, ashamed of his bold behavior.

"No, no, you were fine. You didn't make me nervous."

"I am sorry for prying, but the emotion that played across your face…" He looked down as if nervous himself. Looking back up he stated, "I was fascinated. Do you want talk about it?"

"I'm good, Horatio. I was just letting some of my frustration out. I don't mean to worry you. I'm fine, thanks though."

"Would you," he looked down only to look back up slightly, "go and get pie with me? My treat?" His voice wavered a bit. His cheeks were a light shade pink and his eyes bright and filled with hope. He reminded her of a school boy.

Touched, she replied, "I would love to. Let me finish here, I'll meet you in the parking lot?"

He gave a shy quick smile. Looking down, he raised his eyebrows and gave a half smile before replying, "I'll be waiting." And with that he quickly turned to leave.

Calleigh stood there watching him leave for a second. She could not believe this was happening. Could this sort of thing really happening to her? Could her fondest dreams be coming true? She was walking on clouds. She finished her weapon, put it back in its place, and turned out the lights in the firing range. Walking back through her lab, she grabbed her coat next to the door and started for the garage.

Horatio could hardly contain himself. "I would love to." Could she possibly know the impact that she had on him by saying those simple little words? How he had dreamed of this night. Sure, they flirted here and there, they had a wondrous working relationship, needing little to no communication between them and knowing exactly what the other would be doing. They seemed to know, almost feel, what the other would do or say and could act accordingly. He loved it, loved everything about working with her. He could not get enough of her witty innocence, her blazing sense of humor that parried his dry one, a smile that took his breath away, eyes and hair that drove him crazy, and a tenderness that brought him to his knees. She was an amazing woman.

She found him leaning against the side of his Hummer that was now void of all plastic wrap. She wondered how long it had taken him to get it all off. His head was down and he was playing with some thing in his hands. _His glasses, perhaps?_ He looked up before she even got to him. Walking around the back he went and opened her door, offering a hand to help her into the Hummer.

"I had Eric help me since it was his gag," he answered her unspoken question. Climbing into the driver's seat he asked if she had a favorite spot.

"Nope, I'm not picky. I unfortunately don't have time to catch pie with my fast food." She flashed him one of her sassy smiles.

"Alright then we can go to mine. It is open all night or I wouldn't ever catch pie either."

They drove mostly in a comfortable silence occasionally picking up small talk about the gags that had been played earlier. Her child-like laughter was slowly eating away at Horatio's already frayed self control. Arriving at the small dinner, Horatio parked the Hummer and walked to open Calleigh's door. Walking around back he found it already open and her getting out. He quickly stepped up to offer a hand out and an arm to walk in on. Her cheeks slowly turning red, she wrapped her arm around his and allowed him to escort her in.

"I heard your father once say that you were a Southern Belle and should be treated as such." He lean in a whispered in her ear, "And I could not agree more." She could feel his breath on her ear, making her insides melt.

"Charmer." She batted at his arm playfully. "You should be careful; a lady could get use to this."

"I will remember that, but I think that I can handle pampering you.' Her cheeks grew and even darker shade.

Stepping up to the door, Horatio slipped his arm from hers and placed it on her lower back. Opening the door, he led her to a table towards the back; never take his hand from her. She could feel the heat and his closeness through her tank top. It sent shivers down her spin and set butterflies free in her stomach. The man behind the counter did not even notice that the couple had walked in.

"I come here in the late night hours enough that they know where I sit. I usually come here alone so it should be interesting to see their reactions to see me here with someone."

"That seems to be a reoccurring theme with you, Horatio Caine." She gave a sly smile.

"Alright, I confess, you caught me." He put his hands up in mock surrender. "It has always been a hobby." Just then a small girl came up to the table side. She must have only been nine or ten. She had strawberry blond hair up in a pony tail, and the brightest green eyes.

"Hello Sarah. Shouldn't you be in bed? It is very late for good girl like yourself to be up."

"It's the weekend Horatio, Mom always lets me stay up and help with the restaurant. Who's the pretty lady?"

"Sarah, meet Calleigh. She works with me."

"Oh, so she is the one I always here you and mamma talking about."

"Yes, um, where is your mother?"

"She's in the back. I'll go get her." She turned and left, her hair swaying with her movements.

"So you talk about me, huh?" One eyebrow raised in a "doom is inevitable" look. It was one that could sink any stable, strong guy too his knees.

"Only in the best of taste, I assure you."

A second later, a woman that could only be Sarah's mother walking up. She was identical to her daughter—except with a few more lines.

"Hey Molly. How's business?"

"Oh, it's doing alright for right now. What can I do for you? You wan t your usual times two?"

"That would be lovely Molly, thank you."

"Alright, be back in a sec."

Noting Calleigh's look of wonder he turned to her saying, "It's a family owned business. Molly and her daughter Sarah run the place. Sarah's father died when she was five, and I have been coming here since I was that age. I knew Molly's husband, her mother, and her father. I used to come in here when I was little and help clean dishes for a slice of Molly's mother's own recipe of Peanut Butter pie. Nowadays O accompany it with a cup of coffee. I only get to come in here on the weekends or late nights. The have a great breakfast, lunch, and dinner too, but I never get the time anymore. I still wash my own dishes but not to get out of the bill anymore. I just like to help out. They can use all the help they can get.

"That sounds lovely. In is nice to have memories like that. I remember when I was a little girl and I would go to the corner store and restock shelves to get a piece of gum. It would seem that you and I have similar backgrounds."

A few seconds later Molly returned with two slices of peanut butter pie and two steaming cups of coffee.

"The tab can be on me Horatio. After what you did for us last week it is the very least that I can do for you." She left him with a pat on the shoulder and a smile before he could argue.

"What is that al about?"

"I took care of some punks that were harassing the customers here and I helped redo some of the walls in the back that they had vandalized. I also paid the part that the insurance would not cover."

"That was very nice of you Horatio. They mean a lot to you don't they?"

"They are like family to me. I have helped to watch over them since I was Sarah's age. I used to walk Molly to school in the morning so that the city boys would leave her alone."

"You are an amazing man Horatio Caine, and it is a great joy to know you."

"You flatter me Ms. Duquesne. But the very same can be said for you. You are the very definition of amazing. You make the world worth living in. You have a large part to play in the reason that I come into works everyday. To see you smiling there working beside me is to place the world and all its horrors in some other dimension and leave them to be forgotten. I see nothing but you. From your gentle touch to the victim to your relentless determination to get the ones responsible--it all make you the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen. It is an honor not worthy of me to work next to you, let alone be graced with your time outside of work." His eyes shown with intensity that Calleigh had never seen before. She blushed and looked down.

"Calleigh, you have ruined me. You have place me back in time and let me see the world as a thing of beauty rather than the horrific place that it is. Looking at you, being near you, my shields fall, I can't defend myself against you."

"Are you courting me, Horatio?"

"With your permission. I love you, Calleigh. I am no longer fit for anyone else."

"Permission granted! I love you too. But why wait so long?"

"I was not sure of your feelings. I did not want to push anything lest I lose my friendship with you if you did not return the feelings."

"The way you treat me, the subtle way you show me you care, the way you stand next to me as if to make sure I remember that you are always there—all I have to do it reach out and you will catch me, all the way to your soft, almost nonexistent touches—be it handing over evidence or just to place a hand to steady me. You, Horatio caine, you have ruined me."


End file.
